life is just this
by helga3
Summary: Short slices of life, mainly starring the Rikkai boys. Mostly gen, some Yukimura/Sanada.
1. Didn't It Rain?

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

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**Didn't It Rain?**

**---**

Yukimura made the team wait at school for an hour before he finally decided it was useless and cancelled practise for the day. The rain was pouring down outside and no matter how much he glared at it - with much help from Sanada - it refused to stop. They couldn't even train in the gym inside, as it was being used by the football team today.

"And their Captain hates the tennis club," Yukimura explained as they walked home in the rain. "Especially me."

Sanada frowned darkly at this piece of information, and even Yanagi gave the Captain an enquiring look

"You didn't know?" Yukimura continued. "There was this incident a while back. He had a thing for one of our cheerleader girls... She wasn't too happy about it. And he somehow ended up thinking it was our fault that he's an idiot."

"Let me guess. She had a thing for you instead?" Niou asked, not sounding particularly surprised.

"At least he seemed to think so." Yukimura shrugged indifferently.

"It' not a good idea for him to go around making enemies like that," Niou said, shaking his head but sounding quite delighted. "He might get into trouble one day, don't you think, Yagyuu?"

Yagyuu looked at the Captain, but Yukimura didn't make any sign of having heard Niou at all. "Perhaps," Yagyuu conceded, and Niou grinned happily.

Somehow, when Yukimura had finally let them go for the day, the team had decided they were going to Yagyuu's house. Possibly because he was the one that lived the closest to the school, and no one felt like walking too far in the rain or standing around in the rain waiting for a bus. No one had brought an umbrella. It had been sunny that morning.

Sanada and Yanagi both seemed prepared to face the rain, though, and bravely continued on their respective ways as the rest of them stopped outside Yagyuu's house.

Yagyuu's mother didn't look all that pleased at having her home was invaded by not one, but six very wet and very noisy teenage boys. No parental displeasure was going to chase them back into that rain just yet, though. So they all greeted her politely, and Yukimura apologized for the intrusion before they headed for Yagyuu's room.

Yagyuu's bedroom wasn't very large, and the presence of six boys who always for some reason seemed to take up more space than they logically should didn't make it seem any larger. But somehow, they all managed to squeeze in without even paying much attention to that. Kirihara immediately made a beeline for Yagyuu's DVD-player, digging up a movie from his bag, and soon he and Niou were firmly planted in front of Yagyuu's television watching _The Lord of the Rings_. Jackal, Marui and Yagyuu himself, who were all in the same class, got out their textbooks, sat down on the bed and started working on their English homework.

Yukimura gabbed a stack of tennis magazines from Yagyuu's desk, laid down on his back on the floor with his feet up on Yagyuu's bed, and started reading. He had brought his tennis bag with him into the room, and kept it beside him all the time. Occasionally, he'd lower the magazine to stare accusingly out the window.

Finally, Niou turned away from the television to look at him instead. "Hey Captain! That's about the hundredth time or so that you've sighed and looked up to stare out the window. In the last ten minutes. The rain's not going to stop because you keep doing that."

"We _should_ be practising right now," Yukimura said longingly, eyes still on the raindrops on the window.

"The rest of us are managing just fine," Niou pointed out.

"I'm sure you are," Yukimura said. "But you haven't been kept away from the courts for ages and ages, stuck in a hospital..." Yukimura's voice trailed off. "I want to play as much tennis as I can, now that I... well, can," he finally added.

Niou snorted. "Are you trying to make us feel guilty?"

"Yes," Yukimura said unabashedly, finally turning away from the window and grinning mischievously at Niou.

Niou rolled his eyes. "You need another hobby besides tennis," he decided.

"He has one," Kirihara piped up beside him, never taking his eyes off the television. "He does _gardening_."

"Oh, I know about the Captain's flowers and plants and things," Niou said dismissively. "I meant something he could do inside. When it's, well, you know," he pointed to the window, "raining."

"Huh," Kirihara said.

"Yes," Niou continued, turning to the trio on the bed who had by now finished their English homework and were working on History essays instead. "Right, gang! We have a mission. We must find a suitable indoor activity for our Captain!"

Jackal and Yagyuu looked up, looked at each other, and promptly returned to their work. Marui, however, looked interested. "Cooking," he said firmly.

Niou snorted. "Marui, you are quite possibly the most predictable person on the planet."

"What? It may be a predictable suggestion but it's also a very good suggestion," Marui said before returning to his essay.

"Also a very boring one," Kirihara said. "You should play more video games instead, Captain."

"I've tried playing tennis video games sometimes," Yukimura said.

"Colour me stunned," Niou muttered.

Yukimura ignored him, and continued. "It's a waste of time. I keep thinking how I could have spent that time playing _real_ tennis instead."

"You're as predictable as Marui sometimes," Niou said.

"If you don't like our suggestions, you can watch this movie with us instead," Kirihara said. "There's this bit coming up next that I've always wanted you to see."

"You've seen this movie before?" Niou asked.

"What, you haven't?" Kirihara asked, surprised, as he scooted over to the side so that Yukimura could have a better view of the television from his place on the floor.

_"In place of a Dark Lord, you will have a Queen,"_ the woman on the screen was saying. _"Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me and despair!"_

Kirihara pressed the stop button and turned to Yukimura. "You know, every time I see that scene, it makes me wonder if you somehow got a hold of the Ring."

Yukimura blinked. _"Instead of a Dark Lord, you will have a Queen?"_ he quoted, raising his eyebrows. "A Queen, Akaya? I'm... Galadriel?"

Kirihara waved his hand dismissingly. "King, Queen, Evil Overlord, whatever. Don't try to distract us from the important part here."

Niou snickered. "Do tell us about the important part, Akaya," he said, apparently finding the turn the conversation had taken rather interesting.

"The important part was the stuff about being stronger than the foundations of the earth and all that," Kirihara explained. "It would explain how you keep beating me."

Yukimura stared at him for a moment, and then shrugged. "_All shall love me and despair_, huh? Well, it's very flattering that you all love me. I really don't want you to despair, though," he said, giving Kirihara an innocent look.

"Sure you don't," Kirihara said sarcastically, and Yukimura laughed.

Niou laughed as well, and turned to Kirihara. "But if the Captain really had that thing wouldn't he... I don't know, not have gotten ill?" he asked.

"A very clever distraction so that we wouldn't suspect anything," Kirihara explained immediately.

"You think the Captain would actually do something that meant _not playing tennis_ for a long time just to distract us?" Niou asked incredulously.

Kirihara frowned in Niou's direction, realising that a very important hole in his logic had been spotted. But then he shrugged, and turned back to Yukimura. "I'm not going to let my guard down around you anymore anyway, Captain!" he declared cheerfully. "Now that you know that I'm on to you, I might be in danger. If I'm not careful I might wake up one night and discover that you've sent Marui-sempai to eat my brain or something."

Marui looked up from his History book. "Heey, don't drag _me_ into this," he said. "I wouldn't want to eat your brain anyway. I bet it would give me hallucinations or something."

"My brain is not a hallucinogenic!" Kirihara protested indignantly.

Marui shrugged. "Even if it isn't, I bet it's so polluted by your evil thoughts anyway that it'd give me indigestion at least." He paused, and turned to Yukimura. "Captain, I'd like to request that you never ask me to eat Akaya's brain."

Yukimura grinned at Marui. "We won't make the hungry team-member eat anyone's brainses, no we won't, preciousss," he said.

"Hah," Marui said, popping a bubble of his gum and sticking his tongue out at Kirihara.

"We will make Jackal do it instead, we will," Yukimura continued, making Jackal look up with a startled look on his face.

Yukimura laughed to himself and turned his attention back to the magazine. The voices of his team-mates continuing to bicker back an forth between them soon faded into the background, as did the noises from the television - Kirihara had already grown bored of the conversation and returned to watching the movie.

The magazine had an article on grip tape, which he read with one eye while keeping the other one on the window. He had bought some new tape himself only yesterday but hadn't had time to test it out yet. Morning practise had been busy, and he went through it once more in his mind.

Tomorrow, if it didn't rain, he'd get to play tennis again.


	2. And All You Can Eat

**Disclamer: **I own nothing

**A/N:**_ Didn't It Rain?_ was originally supposed to be a stand-alone one-shot, but then this was written, and I figured it could just as well be turned into a home for other one-shots as well. I'll probably rename it something more suitable at some point, too. This particular piece is all the fault of LiveJournal user Assyrian, who metioned Momo and Marui in the same sentence, and this whole thing grew from that.

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**And All You Can Eat**

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"This place is pretty cool," Niou said. "You always go here to celebrate?"

"Yup," Eiji answered. "Kawamura-san always lets us come here."

"The food's great. You actually get it for free?"

"Yeah. I'm kind of surprised Momo hasn't driven them to bankruptcy 'cause of that yet."

Niou looked to the table next to theirs, where Momoshiro was currently cheerfully stuffing himself with the sushi in front of him. "Hmm," he said. "He eats a lot?"

Eiji snorted. "Saying that Momo eats a lot is like saying water is a bit wet, or something. Understatement of the year."

"Meh," Niou said. "That's nothing compared to how Marui eats."

They turned to look at Marui, who was sitting across the table from Momo, eating sushi at about the same speed. They then turned back slowly to look at each other, a look of _are you thinking what I'm thinking?_ passing between them. And then they looked back at the two boys at the next table again.

Eiji grinned, and turned once more to Niou with his eyebrows raised. Niou nodded encouragingly, and Eiji leaned over towards the other table.

"Momo!" he shouted. "You can't lose to that guy! You have to defend Seigaku's pride!"

Momo looked up. "What are you talking about, Eiji-sempai?"

Eiji pointed to Marui. "Him! You can't let him out-eat you, Momo!"

Eiji's proclamation had managed to attract the attention of the other two people at their table, who had previously been chatting to each other. Yagyuu looked mildly interested, but Oishi seemed a bit distressed. "Eiji!" he said, trying to calm down his friend.

Eiji turned to him, the picture of innocence. "What?"

Oishi ignored him, and turned to Momo instead. "You don't have to listen to him---," he began, but broke off as he noticed what was going on at the other table. Momo and Marui were staring at each other intently, their eyes narrowed. Then, they both grabbed some of the food in front of them and started wolfing it down as fast as they could, all while still keeping a wary eye at each other. Oishi blinked and then sighed, and Niou grinned. Eiji jumped up from his place by the table and went stand next to the two of them. "Go Momo!" he cheered excitedly. "You can do it! For Seigaku! Gooo Seigaku!"

Marui actually took a break from eating when he heard that, and gave him a look full of doubt. "Is he always that... enthusiastic? Or do they serve you sake here?" he asked Momo.

"Hey!" Eiji said, and Momo paused in his eating as well.

"That's just Eiji-sempai," he said, as if that would explain everything.

They looked at each other for a while, and then once again turned their attention to the food.

By now, the competition - and Eiji's cheering, which was soon joined by Tomoka - had attracted the attention of practically everyone in the restaurant. Sanada, who was sitting next to Tezuka by the counter, looked on in disbelief. "There... are two of them," he finally said, turning to Tezuka with a questioning look on his face. Tezuka sighed and closed his eyes, and only shook his head slightly instead of answering. Yukimura, on his other side, chuckled. "It would be a shame for us to lose to Seigaku twice in one day, though," he said, just loud enough for Marui to hear it.

"How will they decide who the winner is anyway?" Fuji asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.

Yukimura shrugged. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"I guess," Fuji agreed. "Taka-san, I think they're running out of food," he continued, turning around.

Taka-san gave his father an apprehensive look, but the man just chuckled. "Bring the boys some food, Takashi," he said.

As the contest went on, Niou began taking bets on who would last longer. Neither Inui's nor Yanagi's data turned out to be of any use, as both the competitors far surpassed all their expectations. In fact, in the end the one whose guess turned out to be closest was Kawamura-san. ("Must be his years of experience," Horio said.)

Momo was the one to collapse first. Marui took one more bite of sushi before collapsing to the floor as well.

"We might have lost to you at Nationals today," he muttered. "But Rikkai wins where it really matters."

All the Rikkai regulars applauded politely.

Momo just groaned.

"Yeah," Marui agreed, groaning as well.

They laid there on the floor as everyone else returned to their own business, Eiji not without throwing a very disappointed look Momo first.

Momo was too busy not dying to notice.

"I want," he mumbled as soon as he feels able to talk again, "a rematch."

Marui blinked at the ceiling. "Time and place?"

Momo frowned. "Your territory this time," he said, pretending to be fair but really just too exhausted to think that much just yet.

"I know this hotel where they have this great buffet..." Marui said, his eyes glazing over.

"Hotel buffet? Wouldn't that be expensive?"

"Heh," Marui almost managed a smile. "Not when you're genius enough to snoop out the best and cheapest all-you-can-eat ones."

"Ooh." Momo managed to raise his head enough to give Marui an approving look. "Sounds good."

"So when can you get to Kanagawa?"

"Have to... check my schedule," Momo said, still not quite capable of thinking straight.

They settled on staring at the ceiling again.

A couple of weeks later, he lost the rematch. A few weeks after that, though, he won the second one.

After that, they stopped keeping a score.

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**OMAKE: Once More, With Akaya**

Kirihara watched Marui, who had fallen asleep - or possibly passed out - on Niou's shoulder in the seat across the aisle from him.

"You know," he said thoughtfully to Jackal, who was sitting next to him. "A _normal_ person would have complained about never wanting to eat again after a competition like that. Marui-sempai arranges a rematch."

Jackal shrugged. "A _normal_ person, maybe. Look around, Akaya. Do you see _anyone_ you'd classify as sane here?"

Kirihara frowned and did as Jackal suggested. "Niou-sempai, maybe," he decided.

Niou, who had been staring out of the window, snapped to attention and leaned forward to stare at Kirihara so fast that Marui's head fell off his shoulder and down behind his back.

_"What?"_

Kirihara shrugged. "Well, you are the sanest one of us," he said matter-of-factly.

Niou turned to Jackal for help, a scandalized look on his face.

Jackal looked thoughtful. "He does have a point," he said.

Niou refused to talk to either of them anymore for the rest of the journey home.


	3. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing 

**A/N: **Yukimura/Sanada is actually my Prince of Tennis OTP. And this is a look at them of the extremely fluffy kind. They, too, deserve some happy!fluffy!fic on occasion, don't you think? Complaints about the stream-of-consciousness-ish style and the run-on sentences, as well as other comments, are of course very much appreciated.

Oh, and the title for this collection of ficlets has officially been changed with this one.

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**Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow**

**--- **

"I think," Yukimura says reflectively, "that the sky looks bluer now."

Sanada looks up, and doesn't see much of a difference. But then, that's probably because he's with Yukimura, and when you're with Yukimura, things like the colour of the sky become trivial and unimportant. Yukimura pulls all the attention to himself, simply by existing, because he's just like that - one of those people who always seem just a little more alive and a little more there and a little more important than everyone else.

But Sanada doesn't think he could ever explain that to Yukimura, and that even if he tried Yukimura would probably just laugh at him anyway. So he says, "yes," because Yukimura has only been healthy and out of the hospital for a few weeks, and everything probably still feels newer and better and more colourful to him now. The sky probably does seem bluer to him, and that makes it true.

They're on their way home from tennis practise. Their tennis bags are slung over their shoulders, and they've changed back into their school uniforms, although Yukimura is still wearing the headband he always wears when he's playing anyway. He's been keeping it on after practice ever since he came back, and Sanada suspects that Yukimura would probably wear it to class, too, if he didn't think that would seem too ridiculous.

Nationals are coming up soon, and Yukimura is getting better faster than anyone could have dreamed of. The whole team has been working harder than ever, determined that nothing is going to be able to stop them from winning now. Sanada thinks this is what he should spend his time thinking about, but it isn't. That's why he waited for Yukimura today after practise, and why they're walking home together now.

"Yukimura," Sanada says. "I just wanted to tell you, that ever since you came back, I keep thinking of how much I'd like to kiss you."

The realisation hit Sanada the minute Yukimura stepped into their classroom again for the first time after his illness. In retrospect, it seems like a strange realisation, because he honestly really should have known already. He can't imagine there has ever been a world where he didn't want to kiss Yukimura, and he knows he has wanted to for the longest time. It should have been so obvious.

Perhaps it was a bit like looking up one day and realising that you've never really given thought to the fact that the sky is blue before.

It's been hard to think of anything else, ever since.

Yukimura turns his head to look at Sanada, the expression on his face unreadable. "Why don't you, then?" he finally says, sounding mildly curious more than anything.

"There's... a lot going on. Nationals are coming up. I thought it could be distracting," Sanada explains. "But I thought you should know," he adds.

Sanada has never been anything if not direct.

Yukimura smiles, then, the smile that's at the same time both challenging, and slightly amused, and a bit arrogant, too; the smile that was missing the whole time while he was in the hospital. "Aren't you already distracted?" he asks.

Sanada can't but agree, because of course Yukimura is right.

They come to a halt there on the pavement. "Let's try something," Yukimura says, taking his hands out of his pockets and reaching up to snatch the cap from Sanada's head with one hand. Then, with the other one, he grabs Sanada's shoulder, pulls him closer and kisses him. Sanada closes his eyes and kisses him back, stepping a little closer and putting his hand on Yukimura's waist to steady the world. Maybe he was wrong about one thing, Sanada thinks. Maybe Yukimura isn't more alive or more important than anyone else after all. Maybe Sanada just thinks he is because being with Yukimura always makes _Sanada _feel more alive and more important. And he can't remember ever feeling this alive before, and maybe that's because Yukimura is closer to him now than he ever has been before.

Yukimura pulls away and breaks the kiss, and Sanada reluctantly opens his eyes. He leans his forehead against Yukimura's for a moment before Yukimura steps back and puts the cap back on Sanada's head. He then watches as Yukimura slides the tennis bag off his shoulder, unzips it and rummages through it, searching for something. "Was that distracting?" he asks, without looking up.

The question doesn't really need an answer, so Sanada doesn't say anything. But he thinks that it wasn't distracting so much as enlightening, because now he knows better than ever that the most important thing in the world is that he'll get to kiss Yukimura again.

Meanwhile, Yukimura finds what he's looking for and pulls out a tennis ball from his bag. He zips the bag back up and stands up. "Here," he says, holding it out to Sanada. As Sanada reaches out his hand for it, his fingertips brush over Yukimura's wrist, and he lets them touch Yukimura's skin for just a moment too long before he takes the ball from him.

"There," Yukimura says, smiling. There's even more of a challenge than usual in the smile this time. "It's in your court now. You can choose when you'll return it."

With that, he shoulders his bag again, and turns to leave. "See you tomorrow, Sanada!" he calls over his shoulder, without turning around.

Sanada watches him walk away for a while, and then puts the tennis ball in his pocket and goes home, thinking about Yukimura, and about tennis matches, and about tomorrow.


	4. Chaos Theory

**Chaos Theory**

Kaidoh leaned back against the wall of the cabin, closed his eyes and attempted to shut out some of the noise around him.

He was quite unsuccessful.

"Our team-mates are quite loud, don't you think, Kaidoh-kun?"

Kaidoh opened his eyes to look at Yagyuu Hiroshi, who was sitting next to him, leaning on the wall as well while dispassionately watching the rest of the gang.

"Yes," Kaidoh agreed shortly. There wasn't much else to say, really.

They watched the goings-on around them in silence for a while.

"That Kikumaru-kun... He really is something else, is he not?" Yagyuu finally said.

Said redhead was currently seated some way away from them across the merrily burning fire, intently whispering with Yagyuu's doubles partner. Both of them very spotting surprisingly similar and somewhat alarming conspiratorial looks.

"After all, the first time we played, Niou almost concussed him," Yagyuu continued. "And now, they're getting along that well." He nodded towards them.

Kaidoh frowned. "That," he pointed out, "was _you_."

Yagyuu turned to him, blinked a little and adjusted his glasses with his index finger. "Ah. Right," he said.

The discussion was interrupted right then, though, as Kirihara popped up at Kaidoh's side. Dropping to the ground next to him, he crossed his legs beneath him, leaned his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand and stared at Kaidoh.

Kaidoh started, and drew back a little. _"What?"_ he snapped.

Kirihara grinned. "You're a second year like me, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"So who d'you think is going to be the Seigaku captain now that the third years are retiring? You or that Momoshiro?"

Kaidoh looked over the fire, where Momoshiro was sitting directly across from him, next to Yukimura. He had been practically permanently attached to the side of the Rikkai captain ever since the food basket had been given into his care at the beginning of the trip - Inui and Yanagi both had agreed that this was the best way to keep the food at least somewhat safe and ensure that there was at least some left the following morning as well.

"I don't know," Kaidoh said shortly. There was no way he was going to tell Kirihara he thought it was going to be that idiot.

"Huh." Kirihara let go of his chin, leaning his head back and fixing Kaidoh with an annoyingly smug look. "Maybe it won't be either one of you." He nodded towards Echizen, who was seated some way off from the rest of them, boredly sipping a can of Ponta.

Kaidoh frowned, and Kirihara snickered a little, but then seemed to lose interest in him.

Across the fire, Kikumaru and Niou had apparently started a minor food fight; the two of them were cheerfully flicking a grain of rice here and a piece of the sushi Kawamura had provided there at each other. Kirihara looked on with interest for a while, and then grabbed his own half-full plate and walked over there. Apparently not happy with simply flicking small pieces of anything on anyone, he promptly turned his plate over and emptied it over Niou's head.

Niou looked up, and without even brushing any of the food off, flew up and grabbed Kirihara into a headlock. Kikumaru came to his aid not many seconds later, both his own and Niou's plates balanced in one hand, and started cheerfully stuffing their food down Kirihara's shirt. It probably would have been easier hadn't Kirihara been squirming and trying to worm himself out of Niou's grip so violently.

The noise and the general racket the three of them were making had by now attracted the attention of mostly all their team-mates as well. Marui jumped up from his place by the side of Yukimura which Momoshiro wasn't occupying to angrily declare that it was absolutely indecent to treat _food_ of all things this way, couldn't they fight with something else instead, there were lots of rocks laying about everywhere wasn't there, and Oishi, attempting to break them up, was soon pulled into the fight himself.

Yagyuu, meanwhile, was watching the whole thing with mild interest. Kaidoh saw him surreptitiously pick up the remaining piece of sushi from his own plate and discreetly fling it, not at the fighters, but at Kawamura-sempai.

Kawamura looked around in surprise at first, but Yagyuu was once again the perfect picture of mildly interested gentlemanly calm, so when Momoshiro handed him a racquet he charged right into the actual fight instead. _"I will burn you with my fish!"_ he yelled in English, waving the racquet with one hand and some sushi with the other.

Kikumaru looked up as he charged, let go of Oishi's head and Kirihara's arm and jumped out of the way, somehow managing to fling the remaining piece of sushi in his hand in the completely wrong direction as he did.

It landed on Sanada's cheek.

Sanada looked up from the card game he had been in the middle of and turned to glare at Kikumaru.

Everyone, even Kawamura, went quiet.

"Umm. Oops?" Kikumaru said.

Sanada was still glaring. Everyone else looked on in silence, until it was interrupted by a derisive snort.

"Too slow," Echizen said. "You should have been able to dodge that, Sanada."

Sanada's glare turned to Echizen.

This time, the ensuing silence was interrupted by Yukimura.

"He does have a point, you know, Sanada," he mused, his gaze thoughtfully straying between Sanada and Echizen.

Sanada looked at Yukimura for a second, then closed his eyes, drew a deep breath and turned back to the card game. "I believe it was your turn, Tezuka," he stated in a voice of forced calm.

The food fight apparently died down with that, and the participants returned relatively unharmed to their seats - Oishi and Kawamura looking embarrassed, Niou and Kikumaru like they were trying hard not to burst out laughing, and Kirihara pretty much indifferent.

Kaidoh turned to watch the card game for a while instead, trying to figure out what exactly they were playing, but to no luck. Apparently, they were playing in pairs, Fuji and Sanada against Tezuka and Kuwahara. The interruption hadn't apparently upset Sanada to much, since as the game wrapped up, it turned out the Fuji-Sanada team had won.

"Anyone else want to play now?" Kuwahara asked, gathering all the cards together.

"I could play," Yukimura said. "Anyone else?"

_"Me!"_ Momoshiro and Marui declared in stereo, still apparently unwilling to stray too far from the food.

"That's three then. Anyone else?"

"I'll play!" Kirihara had jumped up from his seat, and was watching Yukimura with a strange glint in his eyes. "I'll definitely defeat you this time, Captain!"

Yukimura turned a predatory smile on Kirihara. "Let's play, then," he said, taking the deck of cards from Kuwahara and shuffling them. Kaidoh suddenly had the feeling it was probably a good thing no one had flung any unwanted sushi on _him._

Next to him, Yagyuu shifted a little. "This is fun, don't you think, Kaidoh-kun?" he said in a dead-pan voice. "Our teams should do this more often."

"Hmm," Kaidoh said indistinctly in reply. "Whose idea was this anyway?"

"I do believe it was our data men who suggested a joint gathering of some sort." Yagyuu nodded towards Inui and Yanagi. The two data men were seated away from the rest, Inui frantically scribbling in his notebook and Yanagi watching everything very intently.

Kaidoh frowned, suddenly recalling something Inui-sempai had been talking about recently. "Perhaps... They're testing Inui-sempai's chaos theory," he said.

Yagyuu raised an eyebrow at him.

"Something about _'the amount of chaos experienced increasing exponentially by every one tennis player and every one tennis team added'_," he said, repeating all he remembered from memory.

"I see," Yagyuu said.

"And..." Kaidoh paused to think for a while. "Something about... an added factor of complete uncertainty if Niou is present."

"Of course," Yagyuu said, nodding in understanding.

Kaidoh sighed and leaned back against the wall again.

Directly across from them, the card game was in full swing, Yukimura and Momoshiro against Marui and Kirihara. Kuwahara, Kawamura and Oishi were watching over their shoulders.

Next to them, Fuji was eyeing the left-over sushi on his plate thoughtfully. Kaidoh watched as an amused smile spread across his face as he nudged Sanada and handed him the plate. Sanada looked at it for a while, and Kaidoh could have sworn he saw a faint smile flicker across his face as well as he picked up the piece of sushi and flung it at Echizen.

Echizen spit out the soda he'd been drinking when it hit him.

"There's still a lot for you to learn. Echizen." Sanada gave him an impassive look and turned back to Fuji, who was by now looking thoroughly amused.

Echizen glared at Sanada's back.

Inui was wrong, Kaidoh decided. It wasn't a Niou-factor of complete uncertainty they had to take into account at all - it was an uncertainty factor of everyone here, really. They were _all_ too insane to know certainty if it hit them with one of Echizen's Twist Serves.

"Next time, I'll just have that Inui juice instead," Kaidoh hissed to himself, referring to the method that had been used to get everyone to attend the trip.

Yagyuu just gave him a look.

Kaidoh suspected he knew that Kaidoh was, most likely, lying.


	5. Cigars

**Disclaimer: **I still own nothing.

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**Cigars**

---

"He's been following us around for three days now," Niou said. "I think he's had his fun by now, don't you?"

"Hmm," Yagyuu said noncommittally, but followed as Niou headed for the bush beside the court where their stalker was currently hiding.

"Oy," Niou said to the bush as they stopped. "We were just about to do some really indecent things that aren't proper for any audience at all, so I'd suggest you leave now."

The bush rattled a little, and a figure rose from behind it. "Ah, you noticed," the boy said. "You must excuse me, but I was just in the neighbourhood, and when I happened to see two of the players of one of my main rival teams, I just had to observe."

"For three days?" Niou asked.

The boy looked somewhat disconcerted. "Oh, you've known that long. Well. Your data was somewhat difficult to gather, but I believe I finally have it now. So I can leave with no regrets." The disconcerted look had disappeared by now, and he gave a little giggle.

"If you don't mind me asking, Stalker-kun... Who are you, exactly?" Yagyuu said before he did leave.

"Yeah, it's been a bit annoying to just refer to you as _our stalker_ all the time," Niou added.

"Mizuki Hajime, St Rudolph."

Niou frowned. "St Rudolph?"

Yagyuu shrugged.

"From Tokyo," Mizuki said, looking slightly perturbed.

"If you say so. Got any interesting info on us then?"

"I wouldn't tell my rivals their weaknesses, now, would I?"

Niou shrugged. "That's what we have Yukimura for. I asked if you have any _interesting_ info on us?"

"What Niou-kun means," Yagyuu explained, "is that he wants to know the gossip."

"Personal information, then?" Mizuki twirled a lock of his hair, the look on his face growing more and more self-satisfied. "Are you _sure_ you want to hear this?"

Niou leaned his head back a little, throwing him a challenging look.

"You asked for it then." Mizuki shrugged, a mock-helpless look on his face. "Well, according to my analysis, it's likely that Niou-kun is very much starved for attention," he began. "He seems to go to almost desperate lengths to get people to notice him. He also seems afraid of people being able to _really_ figure him out, and hides behind all the things he does for attention and

"As for Yagyuu-kun, I believe he is something of a control freak. And severely repressed as well, really. The switch you two do certainly indicates it; it lets him get rid of his inhibitions for a while and act like he is unable to otherwise."

Mizuki threw them both triumphant looks. "That's just the short version, though," he said in conclusion.

"You know," Niou said, leaning towards Mizuki with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "I think it would be a good idea if you left. _Now._"

Mizuki gave another little laugh, and turned and walked off without another word and with a very smug look on his face.

Niou and Yagyuu watched him in silence for a while. When he was out of hearing range, Niou burst out laughing, and the corners of Yagyuu's mouth seemed to be twitching slightly as well.

"So you want to play?" Niou managed between laughing. "Or are you feeling too repressed?"

"Did you ever hear about Yanagi-kun's analysis of the switch, Niou-kun?" Yagyuu asked as they headed back to the court.

"He had one?" Niou stopped laughing and seemed to sober up at this.

"Indeed. He called it _a very good tennis strategy._"

Niou grinned. "That's our strategist," he said proudly. "For the record, though, I thought you were kind of repressed when we first met too."

Yagyuu raised an eyebrow.

"Then I realised some people are just like that. It doesn't mean you're repressed, it just means you do what you feel like doing. Reminds me of someone, actually..."

"Yourself?"

"Well, yeah."

"Sometimes a cigar is indeed just a cigar," Yagyuu said, coming back to stand in position on his side of the court.

"And sometimes," Niou said, holding out a tennis ball, "a ball is just a ball."

He threw it up in the air, and served.


	6. Victory, All Around

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

**Warning:** Manga spoilers abound.

---

**Victory, All Around**

**--- **

**I.**

"I see you advanced again. As expected. Congratulations," Fuji said.

Yukimura gave him a quick glance before turning back to look at the score board. "Save those for the finals," he said.

Fuji looked at him for a while. "Something wrong?" he finally said.

Yukimura turned for a moment to give him a measuring look. "Sometimes," he answered after apparently finishing the appraisal, "it's not about whether you win or lose, but how you play the game."

There was no real change of expression on Fuji's face, but somehow, Yukimura could almost feel the politely incredulous disbelief just radiating off him. "All right, it _is_ about winning, _and_ how you play the game," he amended. "And my team played horribly."

"Ah," Fuji said, his gaze flickering to the row of 6-0s on the scoreboard.

"I've been away entirely too long," Yukimura said, almost to himself.

"Well, I hope you can all shape up before the finals then." Fuji said. "Because we've been rather looking forward to it. You wouldn't want to disappoint us, would you?"

The appraising look was back in Yukimura's eyes for a moment. "You won't be," he then said, eyes narrowing and a pointed smile spreading across his face. "Don't worry. I'll definitely see to that."

**II.**

"Looking forward to losing to Seigaku again, then?" Atobe asked. There was a look of mild curiosity on his face that Sanada somehow assumed was calculated to annoy him as much as possible.

"Rikkai won't lose," he said levelly.

"Underestimating them again, then?" Atobe smirked. "How sad. I would have thought you'd learned your lesson at the Kantou tournament. Maybe I won't even come watch the finals if you're going to take them that lightly, you're going to be crushed so badly it won't even be interesting if you think like that."

"We're not underestimating them," Sanada said. "But we won't lose."

Atobe gave a little laugh at that. "Well," he said. "Once you've lost, maybe you'd like to learn just how easy it is to lose. We'll play sometime."

He didn't wait around for an answer, but left with that, throwing a final amused look at Sanada as he passed him.

Sanada gave a mental shrug and continued on his way. Atobe-who-had-just-lost was not important - not when there were more important things to think of and a third Nationals title to win.

**III.**

"Seigaku's Kaidoh," a slightly amused, almost mocking voice behind him said, and Kaidoh turned around to see Rikkai's Niou looking at him with his usual half-challenging, half-amused expression on his face.

"I hear some interesting things about you," he continued before Kaidoh had the chance to say anything. "We'll have to watch out so that you don't use our own tricks on us this time, won't we?"

Kaidoh snorted, annoyed at the way Niou was obviously trying to provoce him with his stupid challenging grin and his stupid goading tone of voice. "Whatever," Kaidoh said, stalking past him with every intention to ignore him, but he stopped as he heard Niou call to him again.

"Hey, Kaidoh."

_What?"_ he snapped, without turning around.

There was a moment before Niou answered, in a completely different voice this time. "Thanks," he said.

Kaidoh was silent for a while, but then inclined his head very slightly before continuing on his way. There was no need to answer; it wasn't like there was really anything to thank him for anyway.

**IV.**

When Marui finished warming up, he found two figures watching him. "Hyotei," he said, inclining his head towards them, because he knew one of them was Oshitari Yuushi, but couldn't recall the name of the other one.

"Jiroh was looking for you earlier," the redhead who wasn't Oshitari said. "Was being really annoying about it, too. I think he probably carries around a picture of you in his wallet or something."

"Huh," Marui said, quite politely. He only vaguely remembered defeating a very enthusiastic Hyotei player called Akutagawa Jiroh once. And the fact that these two were currently watching him with faces that said, _I can't believe he's obsessed with something like_ you, _isn't it amusing?_ didn't really matter. It wasn't like he couldn't just crush them on the court if he wanted to, after all.

"My match is about the start," he continued, swinging his racquet over his shoulder and heading off. "You're welcome to watch if you need a lesson," he called over his shoulder.

He didn't see them in the audience during his match, but then again, he didn't look either.

**V.**

"This stupid machine isn't working," the girl with the pony tails told Yanagi as he approached the drinks machine. "It ate our money. Twice."

"Oh," he said.

"Stupid thing," the girl scowled at it. Then she seemed to really notice him, and her eyes narrowed in recognition. "Hey, aren't you that guy Inui-sempai defeated?"

"Yanagi Renji," he said, hoping his voice didn't sound too pointed.

"Right, that one. So how's your team doing."

"We're well on our way to our third Nationals title," he told her.

The girl's eyes narrowed at him. "You guys are so annoying," she said. "You shouldn't be that overconfident. I don't like you. Seigaku is definitely going to defeat you!"

"Tomo-chan!" her friend with the braids said, sounding scandalized. A blush spread across her face as she turned to Yanagi. "I'm sorry, Yanagi-san," she said, bowing to him. She then grabbed her friend and urged her away.

"Don't be," Yanagi said to her back.

He then turned back to the machine, and put in a coin.

The machine ate it.

**VI.**

"Rikkai," Echizen said, looking impassively at Jackal from under his cap.

"Echizen," Jackal said.

They looked at each other in silence for a while.

"So... How's Seigaku doing?" Jackal asked after a while. "Do you think you're going to the finals?"

"Of course," Echizen said, face and voice still impassive, almost bored. "You just worry about yourselves."

Jackal blinked. "We're not worried," he said, raising his eyebrows.

Echizen actually smirked at that. "Huh," he said. "Well, we're not worried about us, and we're not worried about you either, so I thought that since you're worried about us, you must be worried about yourselves too."

Jackal looked at him for a moment. "You really are quite a brat," he finally said.

"So they say," Echizen said, shrugging. He took a sip of his Ponta, and left without further ado.

**VII.**

"You're Rikkai's Kirihara. You injured Tachibana-san."

Kirihara turned around. A boy in a Fudomine jacket was staring at him. He looked vaguely familiar; was this the one Vice-captain Sanada and Yanagi-sempai had defeated?

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, probably not sounding all that sorry at all, but then this boy hadn't sounded all that upset anyway.

The boy watched him impassively for a moment. "I don't like you," he then said.

"Oh," Kirihara said, shrugging. "Okay."

"Maybe it's vindictive of me or something," the boy continued. "But I really, really hope Kirihara loses horribly here. More horribly than he did to Fuji-san that time, because that wasn't actually all that horrible anyway. Yeah, I hope he does, even if it's vindictive. I really want Rikkai to lose. I heard Rokkaku acted as Seigaku's temporary cheering squad for one game. Maybe we can do the same when they play Rikkai. Although I hope we don't have wear skirts if we do..."

"I hope you don't have to wear a skirt too," Kirihara said over his shoulder as he left, but he wasn't sure he was heard, because the boy was still talking.

**VIII.**

"Tezuka-kun," Yagyuu says.

"Rikkai's Yagyuu," Tezuka says. They haven't met before but they both know who the other is anyway.

"We'll be seeing you in the finals then," Yagyuu tells him. "Good luck."

Nothing in Yagyuu's manners is anything else than - of course - the perfect gentleman, but somehow, Tezuka hears the slightly condescending _you'll need it_ at the end that really shouldn't be there anymore.

"We're looking forward to it," Tezuka tells him, and he thinks Yagyuu must know what he really means is, _we're looking forward to defeating you._


	7. Life, in Slices

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. What do you know.

**A/N: **I wrote this about two years ago, for the beta theme set at the 1sentence community over at LiveJournal, but I apparently never posted it here. So since I recently caught up with the last two years or so of the manga, and all that awesome asskicking Yukimura's been doing in the last few chapters got me poking around my old writing and the fandom in general again, they're ending up here now.

Please forgive the title I gave these things. I felt like being horribly, stupidly obvious.

**---**

**Life, in Slices**

**---**

**#01 – Walking**  
This is what Yukimura remembers best from his first game of tennis with Sanada Genichirou: walking off the court with the adrenaline still pumping through his vanes, knowing that tennis was going to be even more fun from now on.

**#02 – Waltz**  
"So why don't the two of you ever, like, go on dates and stuff?" Akaya asks one day; Yukimura raises his eyebrows and says, "what would we do, go dancing?" and the two of them crack up while Sanada rolls his eyes.

**#03 – Wishes**  
They don't wish, because they know it's useless unless you just go for what you want anyway.

**#04 – Wonder**  
"Didn't you ever wonder about it?" Yukimura asks after their first kiss, and when Sanada – quite honestly – says _no_, he smirks and says, "me neither, really."

**#05 – Worry**  
The fact that the illness means he has to worry about _Yukimura_ of all people is what more than anything makes the situation seem almost surreal.

**#06 – Whimsy**  
They're alone in the locker room after morning practice when Yukimura leans over and says, his lips brushing Sanada's ear and his breath hot against Sanada's skin, "let's just ditch school today and stay here instead," but then pulls back, all business again, twirls the racquet in his hand, and adds, "until the next practice, of course."

**#07 – Waste/Wasteland**  
"Such a shame, what a waste," Sanada hears the nurse murmur to each other, and clenches his fists and takes care not to think at all.

**#08 - Whiskey and rum**  
Everything is blurry and Yukimura can't properly focus on anything, and all the wheres and whats and whos and whys of the world feel uncertain; but somehow, seeing Sanada next to him looking just as out of it makes things fall back into perspective just a little bit.

**#09 – War**  
Most people capitulate right away around Yukimura; Sanada knows Yukimura would respect them a lot more if they chose to wage the war knowing Yukimura has the potential to be.

**#10 – Weddings**  
"I went to my cousin's wedding yesterday," Yukimura says, pushing Sanada against the wall, "it was really long and dull and I spent most the time going through that match we played yesterday in my head."

**#11 – Birthday**  
"Play well enough and you might even get a present," Yukimura says, and then he throws the ball into the air and serves.

**#12 – Blessing**  
Sanada hasn't quite decided whether knowing Yukimura is actually a blessing or a curse; what really annoys him about this is the knowledge that Yukimura would never even bother to think about something like that.

**#13 – Bias**  
He wondered once whether he always does stay objective as captain, but then decided that if he didn't, Sanada would simply knock some sense back into him anyway, so it was no use worrying.

**#14 – Burning**  
Yukimura pulls Sanada closer, and moves just a little closer himself, all the while never breaking their kiss; he has the odd feeling that if he did, and if they don't get closer right now, his skin might literally catch on fire and burn right off his body.

**#15 – Breathing**  
"Captain, please stop doing that," Akaya says as he hears the panting on the other end of the line; there is a moment before Yukimura, in a curt voice and with all the dignity he can muster, replies, "don't refer to your vice-captain as _that_, Akaya," and hangs up.

**#16 – Breaking**  
"I think we broke some things," Sanada says flatly, suddenly noticing the broken teacups and plates that were on the table just a while earlier.

**#17 – Belief**  
Up until his first game against Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada believed he could never lose; after Sanada lost that game, Yukimura told him, _we must never lose,_ and Sanada knew it was true.

**#18 – Balloon**  
"You could have saved this until _after_ Nationals," is Yukimura's hissed comment to Sanada at the surprise party; Sanada gives him a sardonic look, hands him a balloon and says, "Welcome back, Yukimura."

**#19 – Balcony**  
They stand on the balcony and watch the fireworks together, and sometimes their fingertips brush against each other.

**#20 – Bane**  
Losing to Echizen actually makes Sanada wonder whether he should look forward to a match between Yukimura and Echizen, or wish there won't be one.

**#21 – Quiet**  
This is how Sanada knows Yukimura is not the team captain just because of his tennis skills: Yukimura says, "_shut up_, Niou," and is instantly obeyed.

**#22 – Quirks**  
Yukimura has this way of quirking his eyebrows (half-amused, half-something-else) that Sanada can't quite interpret; it could mean anything from _I know all your secrets_ to _you just did something I found highly amusing but am not going to tell you about_ to _that's all good and well, but let's just go play tennis now_ (and he rather suspects that the last one is the closest to the answer, although _all of the above_ is a pretty good alternative too) – sometimes, Sanada will kiss him just to distract him from whatever it is (and it usually works).

**#23 – Question**  
"Wouldn't one of us being _the girl in bed_ defeat the purpose of neither one of us being a girl in the first place?" Sanada says through gritted teeth in answer to Niou's valiant attempt at needling him, and Niou laughs and says, "good answer, Vice-captain."

**#24 – Quarrel**  
Once in their first year, there was a disagreement that degenerated so badly that Yukimura ended up with a nosebleed, Sanada with a black eye, and Renji with mediator duties for a week or so.

**#25 – Quitting**  
While Yukimura is gone from the courts and everything in the world upside down, there is a tiny part of Sanada that wonders whether he'd quit as well if Yukimura ever left tennis for real; fortunately, he knows the answer is _no._

**#26 – Jump**  
They consider themselves I) team-mates first and foremost, II) rivals when need be second, and III) friends of a sort, with benefits stemming largely from points I, II and III; they rarely make the leap from there to something different (more?) in their minds, though perhaps it wouldn't be that far a stretch.

**#27 – Jester**  
"I hope for your own sake that you're kidding!" Yukimura yells angrily at him across the net the first time they play after Yukimura's release from hospital; Sanada doesn't hold back for the rest of the match.

**#28 – Jousting**  
They both walk into the classroom carrying their tennis bags on their first day, and the first thing Yukimura says to Sanada, before even knowing his name, is, "play you for doing both of our maths homework for the rest of the week."

**#29 – Jewel**  
_It's not that I don't appreciate the sentiment,_ Yukimura writes, _but if you're going to share your views on my 'sapphire orbs' and 'hair like silk', I'd appreciate it if you signed your notes with your _own _name the next time, Niou._

**#30 – Just**  
Even Sanada has once or twice had the urge to shake Yukimura and yell, "it's just _tennis!_"

**#31 – Smirk**  
When Sanada smirks and tells someone – overtly or not – that they suck, he is considered arrogant, but when Yukimura does, it doesn't seem to matter; Sanada doesn't know whether he should find this amusing, stupid, or both.

**#32 – Sorrow**  
"If I get too annoying, just smack me and tell me to _cheer up, emo kid,_" Yukimura says from his hospital bed, and Sanada suddenly feels horribly guilty.

**#33 – Stupidity**  
It's not that he's more stupid around Yukimura, Sanada decides – it's just that they do stupid things together and can't seem to – or want to – stop.

**#34 – Serenade**  
There is a soundtrack to their lives consisting of tennis – strings on ball on court, lather, rinse, repeat – and they play against and with and for each other over and over again and should by right get tired of it but never do.

**#35 – Sarcasm**  
"Well, colour me _stunned,_" Yagyuu says while calmly taking in the compromising position he has just stumbled on his captain and his vice-captain in, before closing the door again and actually locking it for them.

**#36 – Sordid**  
"Ah well, that'll give me an opportunity to have a torrid affair with that hot new cheerleader girl then," Yukimura tells him absently when Sanada announces that victory parties aren't really his thing and leaves early.

**#37 – Soliloquy**  
Sanada plays tennis with Yukimura with a fierce determination, and kisses him in the same way, and expects nothing less in return; this tells them both all they need to know.

**#38 – Sojourn**  
"It's not infinite at all, is it?" Yukimura says in a sober voice, and Sanada thinks he's been in the hospital entirely too long.

**#39 – Share**  
Maybe they know some of each other's secrets, but they don't seek or share; that's not what it's about at all.

**#40 – Solitary**  
"And I _hate_ solitaire anyway," Yukimura says angrily and slams the deck of cards down on the table by his hospital bed; Sanada looks at him but doesn't say anything, because he knows what Yukimura means.

**#41 – Nowhere**  
The treacherous thing about hospitals is this: when Sanada looks around for Yukimura at school or at the tennis court, he is tempted to find him nowhere.

**#42 – Neutral**  
There are times when Yukimura says or does things that make it a struggle for Sanada to keep a straight face and not bang his head on the wall, but he does (most the time) because he knows that sometimes he does things that make Yukimura (mostly succeed in his) struggle to keep _his_ face neutral and not crack up completely as well.

**#43 – Nuance**  
The thing about a kiss, is that it can mean _everything._

**#44 – Near**  
They have never felt the need to call each other anything else than _Yukimura_ and _Sanada_; that's who they _are_ to each other, anyway.

**#45 – Natural**  
There are no confessions or declarations or even any (open) questions, things just _happen_ and they let them.

**#46 – Horizon**  
"He's _interesting_, don't you think?" Yukimura says, his eyes never leaving 10-year-old Tezuka Kunimitsu on the court, and Sanada knows it's a statement rather than a question; he thinks, _one day I'll defeat them both._

**#47 – Valiant**  
"All right, which brave soul wishes to take it upon themselves to tell our illustrious captain that his fly is undone?" Marui asks as they notice Yukimura and Sanada returning from their planning meeting.

**#48 – Virtuous**  
"We need the use of a classroom for planning the next ranking matches," Sanada says, and they're handed the keys without as much as a second thought.

**#49 – Victory**  
_We must never lose,_ they say, because when you are fifteen years old and really good at what you do and the world is just _there_ for you to take it and you have defeated everything that threatened to take that world as you see it and know it away from you (and, perhaps, you're happy), _you must never lose._

**#50 – Defeat**  
"We must never lose," Yukimura says, and kisses Sanada fiercely, and Sanada kisses him back just as hard and thinks, _we must never lose._


End file.
